


The Shipper

by Writers_Muse



Series: One-Shots (And Two-Shots) ^_^ [6]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Crack, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, Fluffy Ending, Flustered Adrien Agreste, Hot Mess Adrien Agreste, Hot Mess Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Identity Reveal, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Is So Done, Marinette the Clutz, Marinette the Maladroit, Master Fu Is All of Us, Master Fu Ships It, Master Fu the Love Doctor, Oblivious Adrien Agreste, Oblivious Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Reveal, These Oblivious Idiots, They figure it out eventually, Those Two Are Made for Each Other, because duh, clumsy marinette, flustered Marinette Dupain-Cheng, love square shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-17 12:45:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18098780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writers_Muse/pseuds/Writers_Muse
Summary: Master Fu appears to be up to something, and that something, is getting Marinette Dupain-Cheng together with Adrien Agreste.





	The Shipper

**Author's Note:**

> Master Fu has taken to sending Marinette and Adrien out on civilian missions, and they both begin to wonder why they're always running into each other.
> 
> Idea proposed in a Discord chat and basically assigned to me by MBK (EpicLilKitty)
> 
> One-shot.
> 
> G but says shit like once.
> 
> Fluff and crack
> 
> Beta boo: EpicLilKitty

If anyone told Marinette Dupain-Cheng she would end up sitting in the middle of a massage parlor, talking to a 186 year old Asian man about the reasons why it was unethical for him to attempt to force a random boy to fall in love with her, she would have laughed and then probably hyperventilated (if they told her that boy was Adrien Agreste).

Yet, here she was, sitting in the middle of a massage parlor, talking to a 186 year old Asian man about... yea.  You get it.

Hyperventilating wasn’t actually at the top of her list of priorities, though.  Dying of shame was.

It all started a few months ago.

Marinette began to notice that Master Fu was turning up uncharacteristically often.  Whereas he usually chose to remain behind the scenes, like an invisible guardian angel, suddenly, she was seeing him _everywhere._  And that was not so much a problem as it made her wonder if it meant there _was_ a problem.

One day, after the tenth or so time she noticed him without an akuma anywhere nearby, she decided to visit him.

So she did.

Marinette went to the massage parlor and asked Master Fu is there was a reason he was turning up everywhere.

He smiled in his typical mysteriously wise way, gave her a slight nod of ambiguity, and told her:

“It’s all right, Ladybug.  All things will be revealed in due time.”

So, like a good heroine/pupil/mentee, she took him at his word and trusted that whenever he appeared, it was for a bigger picture that she just couldn’t see yet, and would all work out for the best.

But she started to realize that some _strange things_ were happening when he was around.

First, there was the way she would randomly trip and fall into Adrien’s arms, any time he walked into her line of sight.

Not that tripping wasn’t par for the course for her, but she had never managed to trip _this much_ before.

And into Adrien, no less.

And _only_ Adrien.

She brushed off the coincidence, though, and decided to pay it no mind.

She started getting suspicious, however, when he began sending her out on “civilian reconnaissance missions” that somehow ended up with her running into Adrien Agreste.

Every.  Time.

Once, he asked her to scope out a potential suspect for the mantle of Hawkmoth- a harmless, frankly flighty and intellectually unlikely ice cream vendor who couldn’t do simple math and almost _gave_ her money for the ice cream she was _buying._

And then, somehow, that “mission” ended with Adrien walking up to the same ice cream vendor.  And of course, she tripped and fell into his arms within seconds of him arriving at the stand.

Her suspicions increased as well when she noticed that Adrien would appear often at her house, always with the excuse of delivering baked goods to his Chinese tutor, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as he blushed a light pink.

When she asked why his tutor couldn’t come get his own baked goods, he stuttered some nonsense about it being a Daniel Larusso-Mr. Miyagi type of relationship before hightailing it out the door.

She about had it, though, when Adrien barely made it through a request for her to be his tutee, claiming his Chinese tutor thought it would be a good idea to practice his Chinese by attempting to teach it to someone else, and adamantly insisted it be _her._

It wasn’t until she saw Adrien slinking out of Master Fu’s massage parlor, however, that she put it together that her own mentor and guardian of the Miraculous was also Adrien’s tutor, and that he had been playing a weird game of matchmaker.

So, like any half-grateful, half-mortified person, she briskly entered the studio and did her best to convince him that the jig was up, that she knew what he was doing, and that, while she appreciated his efforts, she didn’t want anyone trying to force Adrien Agreste to fall in love with her.  If it was going to happen, she wanted it to happen all on it’s own.

He remained as enigmatically quiet as usual, giving the impression of having heard and understood her reasoning without actually agreeing to anything, so that, when Marinette left, she had the distinct impression that he was going to ignore everything she just said and continue with this hair-brained scheme.

Sighing, she walked to a vacant alley, transformed, and swung her way home.

The next morning when she saw Adrien at school, and he blushed absolutely scarlet and turned, tucked tail, and ran in the other direction, she began to seriously worry just what Master Fu had done.

* * *

If someone had told Adrien Agreste that he would end up unintentionally stalking his classmate at the behest of his secret superhero mentor, he would have first laughed, then brushed it off with a sarcastic quip, then secretly had an internal meltdown while oozing cool and confident.

Here he was, though, more having a meltdown, and less oozing confidence.

Because he was 150% sure that Marinette Dupain-Cheng thought he was insane.

And he was 300% sure _Master Fu_ had to be falling off his rocker.

It started when Fu began sending Adrien out to gain information about potential targets for Hawkmoth’s akumas.  The old man gave him a list of people to see as well as times and places to catch them, and though sure he was in over his head (and more than a little under-informed), the boy agreed.

Fu suggested these people were particularly unstable, or had almost been akumatized before, and that perhaps it would be a worthwhile effort to go see them and find out if there was anything they all had in common.

And the first few times he happened to run into Marinette during these outings, he felt a surge of warm, pleasant surprise.  She was quite clumsy, after all, and it seemed like every time he saw her, she was tripping into his arms. He hated to think what might happen to her if he wasn’t around to catch her, and the thought of someone _else_ catching her when she fell rubbed him the wrong way.  She was his princess, after all, which made it his job to save her.  He didn’t want her being anyone else’s princess.

But then, Fu started asking Adrien to bring him food from Marinette’s parents’ bakery, and he had no problem with that, except that the number of times he ran into her in public was rising exponentially, and he was afraid that if he ended up visiting her too often at her own home, then she would think it was on purpose.  He went, though, blushing at the thought of seeming like a stalker, not that he would ever stalk Marinette if she didn’t want him to. I mean, he would if she asked, but… wait. Where was this going? Oh, yes. He went anyway, embarrassed to think she might consider his presence suspicious, and left as quickly as he could, despite wishing he could stay and talk to her longer.

It wasn’t until Master Fu asked Adrien to make Marinette his Chinese language tutee that he began to wonder if there might be a fine line drawn somewhere, and if he had inadvertently crossed it.

But Fu insisted, and Adrien wasn’t rebellious enough to contravene his master’s will.  So, with not a little trepidation, he asked Marinette if he could tutor her in Chinese.  She agreed reluctantly, and he was sure she was starting to feel uncomfortable with how often he popped up in her daily life, so he took her hesitant agreement and ran like running would save his life.

When he went to report to Master Fu, the old man smiled at him, bowing slightly as though pleased, and gave him another instruction.

Adrien stopped breathing.

Ask Marinette on a date?  Wasn’t that… completely unrelated to everything Fu had been asking him to do the past few months?

His face lit on fire.

Inside his chest, his heart raced at the thought, a confusing warmth gathering within his ribcage.

He couldn’t ask Marinette on a date.

He was in love with Ladybug.

And Marinette was just a friend.

Half a second away from passing out, he felt a harsh pound on his back, which forced him to exhale the breath he had been holding in his lungs.

Adrien looked down at the old, tiny Asian man in front of him, who was smiling as though nothing was wrong.

“Come now, Chat Noir.  You have a reservation for tomorrow at 7.  I suggest you get a move on. Time is ticking.”

And with that, Adrien found himself shoved out of the parlor, no less confused, but unable to say a word.

The next morning, he was no less sure about what to do.  Master Fu told him it was important, and he didn’t want to question that.  But he couldn’t ask her- what would she think? What if she said no? At the thought of Marinette turning him down, Adrien felt a strong desire to throw himself into a bottomless hole.  But, what if she said yes? As much as that idea made him feel abnormally warm and tingly all over, he couldn’t imagine what the long-term consequences would be. What if she fell in love with him?  He didn’t want to end up stringing her along and then breaking her heart.

When he saw Marinette coming down the hall, true to his instinct, he turned and ran.

As much as he wanted to avoid it, though, Adrien had to eventually go to class.  After all, he threw a fit and basically ran away from home just to be allowed to go to school in the first place- he wasn’t going to let something like this take away his ability to continue to attend class.

Inhaling deeply, he walked through the doors and avoided everyone’s eyes, taking a seat, tense as a bowstring.

When Nino attempted to catch his attention, he answered automatically but found himself unable to relax.

It only made matters worse when, just seconds before the bell rang, Marinette scrambled through the doors, her electric blue eyes meeting his.

She had a healthy, becoming flush to her cheeks from embarrassment and exertion, and Adrien briefly mused it made her look extra pretty.

Then he blushed at the thought and turned his gaze back to the desk, refusing to look up unless the professor addressed him directly.

He felt guilty, though, like he was failing his master.  Shouldn’t he give Fu’s plan a chance, even though he was completely unsure what that plan exactly was?  Whatever it was, it involved him going on a date with Marinette, and by the gods, he wasn’t going to let a little anxiety get in the way of making Fu proud.

As soon as the bell for lunch rang, Adrien whipped around, so fast, in fact, that it startled all the people in close proximity.

He stood like he had a pole going through his back, ramrod straight, shoulders tense and draw up around his neck.  In a monotone voice that didn’t even sound like his, he said:  
  
“MARINETTE.  I NEED TO TALK TO YOU.  DO YOU HAVE A MINUTE?”

The blue-eyed girl stared at him, expression stunned, but nodded her head enough to indicate she would stay and wait for him.  Adrien could see Alya give her a strange look before she grabbed Nino’s arm and pulled him out of the room.

Marinette approached him slowly, almost fearfully, as one might approach a wild animal that could lash out at any time.

“Adrien?” she asked, voice soft and unsure.

The boy did his best to seem more relaxed but failed miserably.  Trying to appear casual, he leaned against a table, but his hand missed the ledge, and he ended up falling on his butt on the floor.

“Oh my gosh!” Marinette exclaimed, reaching down automatically to help him up.

Outside the door, they heard, “Hey!” and suddenly saw Alya dragging away a fuming Chloe, who was muttering something about how her father would hear about this.

Shaking her head at the absolute bizarreness of the entire morning, Marinette pulled Adrien to his feet, watching as he shifted awkwardly back and forth from one foot to the next, trying to give her a reassuring smile, but really only managing to make it look like he was a kid who was about to get a shot and wanted to locate the nearest exit.

“Ma- Ma- Marinette,” he finally blurted, clearing his throat after the stammered statement.

“...Yes?”

“Marinette.  I have something important to ask you.”

She nodded as though she was fully expecting him to say _something_ that she didn’t already know.

“And that question that I have to ask you is one that I am going to ask.”

He was pretty sure she couldn’t look at him any more strangely if he suddenly sprouted a second head that only spoke in rhyme.

“Uh, Adrien, maybe you should ask me another time?  When, you know, you’re not... so nervous?”

Adrien swallowed, feeling like there was a lump in his throat and cotton in his mouth.

“NO!”

Marinette jumped when he accidentally shouted.

_Woah, buddy, tone it down.  It’s ok, be cool. Calm down.  Be Chat Noir._

_That_ he could do.

Suddenly all suave and confident, Adrien leaned an elbow on the window sill nearby, crossing one foot over the other in a way that screamed contrived nonchalance.

Smirk in place, he leveled her with his flirtiest look.

“So, Marinette.  Come here often?”

_What?_

“What?”

Then his nerves were back, and he stood up awkwardly, expression anxious and fingers fidgeting as his eyes darted around restlessly.

“I- I mean.  Shit, I’m sorry, Marinette, I don’t know why this is so hard.”

Then he clenched his fists at his sides, squeezing his eyes shut in his determination and blurted:

“Marinette.  Will you go on a date with me tonight?”

He was 95% sure there was a squeal of excitement just on the other side of the door, but he ignored it, eyes popping open when Marinette’s prolonged silence became too much for him to bear.

Why was he so anxious at the thought of her turning him down?

After a minute or so, she finally answered:

“Did Master Fu put you up to this?”

Out of all the things she could have said, Adrien was not expecting _that._

“You know Master Fu?”

The girl’s eyes bugged nearly out of her head, and she started stammering.

“Uh, that’s, uh, I- I mean, h- he’s my u- uncle!  Relative! My u- uncle relative. I mean, he…” she trailed off on a lackluster laugh that came out more like a deflating balloon, swallowing as Adrien’s incredulous expression and raised eyebrows watched the train wreck coming out of her face.

“Really?”

“Y- yea!” she laughed.  “And, uh, I didn’t realize he was your tutor until yesterday!  When I was going to visit him! And I saw you leaving! And I put two and two together!  Ha! Funny world, isn’t it?”

Adrien continued to watch her, dubious.

“That’s funny, though, because he doesn’t go by Master Fu in public.”

Marinette swallowed nervously.

“H- he doesn’t?”

Why did her voice have to squeak so much?

“No,” he replied, half-smile beginning to appear on his face as he started to walk closer to the stricken girl.  “No, he doesn’t. He goes by a different name when he visits _my house_ on occasions when my _usual tutor_ can’t come.  The only time I’ve heard him called _Master Fu_ is when the one talking about him... is my kwami.”

Marinette’s expression remained blank and her brain processed this information, coming to an undeniable conclusion, then promptly deciding that life was not worth continuing if this is what the universe did to people, and crashing into a total system shut down.

Adrien watched the emotions flicker behind her eyes, which were staring into space and were suddenly so painfully, recognizably familiar.

He lifted a hand to the lock of hair falling in front of her face and brushed it softly behind her ear, finger drifting lower until it tucked underneath her chin and lifted it higher.

“Do you know what a kwami is, Marinette?”

Unable to do anything but respond automatically, she nodded, eyes still far away.

“Do you happen to have one of your own?”

Again, she nodded.

The smile on Adrien’s face grew, his eyes absolutely lighting up in the most brilliant display.

“Then, I’ll ask you again, my lady.  Marinette, will you go on a date with me tonight?”

Once more, she nodded slowly.

“Do you realize I’m Chat Noir?”

Another nod.

“Can I kiss you now?”

At this, her eyes widened dramatically, her jaw dropping in surprise.

“A- Adrien, but, we can’t- we’re not supposed to-”

A finger came up to cover her lips, and she stopped her inane babble.

“That doesn’t answer my question, princess.  I asked: can I kiss you now?”

Marinette, pupils blown, abruptly started nodding enthusiastically until the pressure of Adrien’s lips on hers forced her head to stop moving.

Pulling back but keeping an arm firmly wrapped around her waist, Adrien smiled, and Marinette’s eyes fluttered open slowly, unable to believe the events of the last several minutes.

“I guess the cat’s out of the bag, huh?”

He yelped out a laugh as Marinette slapped him on the arm, suddenly incredibly relieved and thankful that he had decided to follow along with Master Fu’s scheme, and that, even as an unlucky black cat, he still managed to be the luckiest guy in the world.

And of course, as they walked out of the classroom hand in hand, Marinette tripped, and Adrien caught her.

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler alert/plot twist: that squeal of excitement after Adrien asks Marinette out is Master Fu.
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I hope you found that enjoyable
> 
> Leave me a comment if you liked it! 
> 
> <3 Muse


End file.
